The Kosi river basin in Bihar is facing its biggest ever flood disaster ever, and that disaster has come about completely due to the neglect of the government of India and the government of Bihar. It is a manmade disaster which could have been avoided. Amidst the din of 'national calamity, catastrophe and river changing course', about two million people are facing forced submergence and displacement.
The floods are back in Bihar. And
this time around if anyone can be blamed for the breach that led to the
floods
it is the governments - the state and the center - and they just cannot
blame
the rainfall this time. At present, there are at least 50,000 people in
Nepal
and nearly 3.5 million people of North Bihar in
need of
urgent relief and rehabilitation.
Over 800 villages underwater, nearly 3.5 million affected and the real extent of the tragedy
that is unfolding across North Bihar yet to become apparent. It will
take decades for the people of the region to recover from the trail of
destruction and devastation left behind by floods unleashed by the river Kosi.
It is not
that the river of sorrow has indulged in the dance of death and devastation on its
own, the fact is that it is the result of human intervention rather than the fury
of a river in spate.
Two major questions arise in the context of the Kosi floods. First, the
manner in
which we manage our water resources, and second, the response to such calamities
that we know are becoming more frequent.
As Himanshu Thakkar observes that, "…there is plentiful and mounting evidence that
structural measures have been largely ineffective in controlling India's
floods, and in fact, have worsened flooding in many parts of the country."
Embankments
are basically flood transfer mechanisms; they quickly transfer the floods
from a given area to downstream areas. The floods resulting when
embankments are breached are thus very different from natural flood - as in
the case of the Kosi. The way out of this embankment oriented 'hard'
approach which is based on the idea that nature can be confronted,
constrained and made to do humanity's bidding is to look at the `soft' approach,
which argues for a more sophisticated set of techniques, of flood-risk management
which aims to understand, adapt to and work with the forces of nature.
Secondly,
there is the gigantic task of addressing the human tragedy that the floods have
brought about. As we write this, the waters are receding and the next phase of the
response, that of rebuilding shattered lives of the inundated people of
Bihar is just begining. |
Bihar
Underwater,
www.indiawaterportal.org
Interview
—Dipak Gyawali,
www.indiawaterportal.org
A River
at
Disequilibrium,
by Kanak Mani Dixit, Himal,
01 Sep 2008
Kosi
Bihar Floods 2008,
by Sri. Dinesh Kumar Mishra,
The India Water
Portal Blog,
03 Sep 2008
Citizens’
plea,
The Hindu, Chennai,
03 Sep 2008
Kosi's
tragedy: Blunder after blunder,
by Himanshu Thakkar,
Rediff News,
01
Sep 2008 | Flood-hit
Bihar may
fall into trafficking trap, by Himanshi Dhawan, The Times of India,
09 Sep 2008 Bihar
roads in
troubled
waters, 2,000 km damaged, by Anubhuti Vishnoi, Indian Express, 08 Sep
2008 Learning
to
handle
calamities, by Bhaskar Ghose, DNA, Mumbai, 07 Sep 2008 The
Way
Forward, by Himanshu Thakkar, South Asia Network on Dams,
Rivers & People, 01 Sep 2008
|
|
UPDATE
ON
THE FLOOD SITUATION IN BIHAR,ACTIONS THAT CAN HAPPEN - Write articles on the issues and letters to the Editors of various newspapers and magazines.
- Keep
collecting and contributing resources, dry foods, milk powder,
plastic sheets, torches, clothes, blankets, children's wear, woollen
wear etc.
- Volunteers
who can come to Bihar are most necessary to assist at the rescue points
and resettlement camps. A couple of teams from Mumbai, Delhi and
volunteers from Bhopal, Bangalore etc are arriving shortly. The health
activists from Indore have already arrived. Many volunteers are already
at brisk work. Kindly do contact if you can support and get involved in
kind or cash Medha Patkar Vijay Bhai Pervin Jehangir
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/ bihar/?p=68#more-68
Loksamitee.wordpress.com, 09 Sep
2008
A message
to ponder over... |
Critical Concerns
